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eastern sages - as "Amó" or mountain sheep for Orion - "Hatcha" for Ursus Major or Dipper; "Hatchel-Kuya-arunyé" or "Trail of Heaven[["]] for the Milky Way; each and all in fact displaying a remarkable similarity with those retained by ourselves and probably acquired from the same source.
In the burials rites of the Mahhaos cremation is the invariable rule. A deep grave is dug and filled with dry twigs and billets of wood, the body, dressed in the best wearing apparel of the deceased - not much to speak of at best - is laid thereon and the torch applied to the funereal pyre. In a few hours a few white, charred, half calcined bones resting among the ashes at the bottom of the grave is all that is left. The grave is then refilled and the last remains of the dead disappear from the sight, if not from the memory, of the living. All articles of clothing worn by the dead, and by his relatives also are then burned and the hair of the relations is cut short in sign of mourning. Somewhat on the principle of widow's weeds when the hair has regained its full length - the friends cease to mourn for the departed.
The deceased's favorite horse is also sacrificed to the manes. This is to be charged to the transportation account for whether the dead goes to Heaven or Hell he must have a pony to carry him thither and enable him to make a decent appearance in his new abode.
There are several medicine-men in the tribe and the practice of these bronzed Esculapiuses is not without its perils whatever it may be in professional diagnosis and success.
A doctor in good practice must be invariably successful in his treatment - if he fails once he meets with frowning looks from the relatives of the deceased which are the precursory shadows of coming evil -